Leak: Acer $99 Android ‘Iconia B1′ Tablet on the Way

Posted by michaels| Mon, Dec 24, 2012 - 5:36 AM

An insider has stated that Acer is to launch a super-budget Android tablet to compete with the likes of the Kindle Fire, which costs around $140. The new Acer tablet, dubbed “Iconia B1″ is to retail at just $99 and feature a 1024 x 600 16:9 display and 1.2GHz dual core CPU. Due to its low price, it’s aimed at “emerging markets” and while it has been submitted to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for clearance, it’s not clear if it will actually be sold in the US.

The insider also said that development fo the upcoming tablet began hastily in the fall as a response to aggressive pricing by Acer’s competitors and marks a change in strategy for the company, which has been concentrating for most of the year on boosting profit margins of their high end products. David Chang, spokesman for Asus, one of Acer’s competitors, has stated that Asus are not making a $100 tablet and declined to make any further comment.

The blue-edged Acer Iconia B1′s pictures surfaced this month on a Serbian forum. They were confirmed as authentic by a person familiar with the project and also comes partly as a response to Acer’s crosstown rival Asustek Computer Inc., which has been rumored to be brewing up a similarly low-priced Android tablet for next year, the person said.